Search

I’m a real matcha fan. Traditionally the Japanese enjoy matcha whisked into a frothy tea with water but first thing every morning I love it post-run blended with milk, banana and a little honey – a super smoothie!

You see, matcha, vibrant fine-milled Japanese green tea, is jam packed full of antioxidants and vitamins a,b and c. Like coffee, it contains caffeine but it works differently. Together with two amino acids it gives you a slow release energy lift whilst keeping you calm and focused. Not only that but matcha can boost metabolism, energy and mood (it makes me smile) as well as help prevent heart disease and ageing.

But this week I’ve been under the weather and craving hot drinks. So I tweaked my smoothie recipe to make it a latte recipe with an additional healthy boost of manuka honey. It’s delicious and with a certain autumnal chill in the air, it’s my new favourite super healthy start to the day.

In a mug, mix the matcha and hot water until it becomes a smooth paste (this is your base)

Warm the milk (I used my espresso steamer but you could do it in a pan on the hob) and honey over low heat, making sure the milk never reaches the boil. Once heated, pour into the mug and whisk until blended.

One of the things I love about twitter is the people I’ve met. As weird as it sounds to all of you out there who aren’t fans, I have met some great people. I have built really strong friendships, like me old muckers Dan @essesxeating (not to be confused with TOWIE) and Elly @pearcafe, as well as business relationships.

I recently met these two top chaps, Steve and James from @centralworking, when I replied to a tweet hunt for a cracking tea supplier to work with at their exciting new venture in London. I popped to the big smoke for a day and met with them to see how I could help. I loved their concept and less than a month later they’ve opened, I’m a member so I have a fab place to work from when I need to, and whatsmore they’re serving Lahloo Tea. Speedy!

When I was looking at launching Lahloo Tea I really struggled to find the right place to work. I had always worked with lots of people, both leading teams and well as looking after customers, in hospitality and retail and so to be stuck at home alone in my spare room-cum-office was a real struggle. But I just didn’t have the budget to pay for an office and neither was it very appealing having never worked in an office before! So I had to balance between noisy coffee shops and home and make do. Now, if there had been somewhere like Central I’d have joined in a flash!

I think it’s a wonderful solution to people who want to run their own business and want somewhere to do it and be able to meet people doing the same thing. Here’s what they say about Central. And I hope you agree, it’s a great concept!

We believe that there are endless opportunities to build the business or career you dream of. The problem is a lack of space, resource and inspiration to help you maximize this opportunity.

So we want to fix this. With your help Central’s going to be a place where you can find the people and essential things you need, when you need them, whether that be a desk, a friendly smile or a lovely cup of Mozzo coffee or a mug of Lahloo Tea.

We want to build a membership full of interesting, passionate and driven people who want to make the best of the opportunities the world has to offer, be that a new venture, a new connection or a bit of inspiration.

You’ll have had times when your office is too distracting, or when you’ve tried to “work from home” but found it too isolating. Maybe you’ve tried a coffee shop but it’s just not right, you can’t even go to the loo without losing your chair. So maybe a private members club, not if you want to print and bind documents, make a phone call, register your post, get a courier, or you need a USB key.

We believe it’s time for a change. Central provides a welcoming and collaborative place to meet, eat, work and be inspired. We are on the high street, just where you need us, and we want to be full of people who are passionate about their business, whatever that may be.

We’re a new concept, we know we’re not going to get everything right. We are going to launch in Beta, which means we want you to tell us what you think and much more importantly we are going to listen. We will be the world’s first physical Beta. So why not get involved and shape a better way to work?

We will be opening our first site, Central Bloomsbury, in London in April 2011 so please share your thoughts on how you work and what you need to help make sure Central is just how it should be.

Here at Lahloo we have been celebrating! We are absolutely delighted to be supplying one of, not only our favourite but also, the South West’s favourite specialist food retailers Chandos Deli.

Most Saturday’s you’ll spot Kate popping in to Chandos on her way back from her morning run across Ashton Court for the ingredients to make her favourite weekend brunch – boiled eggs and toast and marmalade! Leaving Chandos with her arms full – a loaf of real bread, either Hobbs House Sherston loaf or Richard Bertinet’s delicious sourdough, local salted butter, free-range eggs and marmalade – and stopping to pick up the FT, Kate finally makes her way home!

Not long after, Kate and partner Neil fight over the foodie pages by Jancis Robinson and Nick Lander, slurp pots of nice strong breakfast tea, dunk toast soldiers into their runny eggs and hum along to BBC radio 6. Only then is Kate one very happy bunny!

Chandos’ deli was first set up in 1992 on Chandos Road in Bristol (hence the name). After humble beginnings, they went from strength to strength. The quality of their produce and exciting range (without forgetting their friendly and knowledgeable staff) meant that their business was an overnight success.

It’s easy to see why it’s gone from strength to strength, and become one of the South West’s favourites. Great food, pure & simple: their concept is very simple! And it goes hand in hand with Lahloo’s. Iain’s passion and dedication to sourcing exciting/authentic produce is why he has chosen to stock Lahloo. Like Lahloo, Chandos is an independent, vibrant company that prides itself on its attention to detail and customer service. So, it would seem like the obvious partnership and a match made in foodie heaven!

So, this weekend why not head on down to your local Chandos? Check out what’s going on, pick up some of your favourite ingredients for a lazy Sunday brunch and (it goes without saying) don’t forget to do them justice by picking up the perfect accompaniment to all that delicious food; Lahloo tea – real tea for real people!

Have you changed the habit of a life time to enjoy delicious loose tea all-day-everyday yet? If not, why not? What have you got to lose!

We are on a mission to encourage you to enjoy Lahloo Tea, all-day-everyday! We want you to enjoy Lahloo Tea as an everyday indulgence, not ‘just on special occasions’. Life is too short not to!

To help us on our mission we enrolled the help of our first set of lovely tea volunteers and asked them to go ‘loose leaf’ for a week. Now we love our loose leaves and we don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t, but we needed to test our leaves on real hardened tea bag drinkers. We sent them all a Tovolo tea infuser and a pouch of Lahloo Breakfast tea. Then we simply waited for the results…

Was our ‘Tea and Tovolo Challenge’ enough to persuade our readers to give up their tea bag habit for good?

So have their habits changed? Are they sticking with loose leaf and enjoying it every day? Of course they are! Here’s their first hand experience…

Overview: “instructions were simple. A triumph of making ‘proper’ tea in a modern simplistic way”.

Experience: “it was a pleasure to spend a week using my Tovolo and the Lahloo Breakfast tea was just divine. I’m using at home now but with a view to convert work colleagues, to use it on the tea round-not brave enough yet!”

Overall: Thumbs up! She’s sticking.

Volunteer No 2: Sarah

Self Confessed: “tea fiend”

Pre challenge: used tea bags “mostly out of habit!” And “loose leaf would be messy and somewhat more complicated”.

Overview: “the Tovolo tea infuser makes the process very easy, less than a minute to use it. No mess no fuss!”

Experience: “loved using it at work/home. I’ll be sticking with loose leaves in my Tovolo from now on. The Lahloo Breakfast is an aromatic flavour which is much smoother. I’ve been filling it up ready to go and then giving it to my work colleagues on the tea run!”

Overall: Sticking, thank you!

Volunteer No 3: Joanna

Self Confessed: lives in a “tea crazy household”

Pre challenge: used tea bags and has about 20 (big brand) teas on the go!

Overview: “the ease and convenience are pretty handy. Making a nice cup tea is very easy”.

Experience: Slightly mixed. “I loved the leaves but not 100% sure about the Tovolo. I rate the tea extremely highly for flavour and fragrance that you just don’t get with PG Tips and Twinnings”.

Overall: Sticking with the leaves not sure about the Tovolo. Hey ho, we can’t win them all!

So, there we are! In a nutshell, a resounding success for Lahloo Tea and Tovolos! Why not try it yourself? Simply purchase our Tovolo tea infuser and Lahloo Breakfast tea online, enter goloose at the checkout and receive the tea absolutely free for the rest of March. Shop now >

Just one request. We love having feedback, so please drop us a line with your views.

Its simple; matcha! Super tasty and packed full of health and happiness boosting anti-oxidants, matcha (stone-milled Japanese green tea) is one of our favourite teas to start the day. How about adding our quick and super healthy green tea smoothie to your daily routine?

Green Tea Smoothie

A simple and nutritious breakfast food, made with matcha tea, milk and yogurt.

¼ cup semi-skimmed milk

¼ cup probiotic natural yogurt

2 tbsp honey

½ cup ice cubes

2 tsp matcha

Blend ingredients together in an electric blender. Pour into a glass. Drink!

Fancy adding one of your 5-a-day? Fruit is a sure-fire way to blow away the cobwebs. Try adding one of the following: ¼ a cup of seasonal berries, ½ banana, ½ kiwi or ¼ mango.

So, it’s finally the school holidays and you’re winding down. Hopefully you’ve done all your Christmas shopping and you can just enjoy some time with your little ones. Why not make this berrylicious brunch to start the day. Then get them wrapping presents before settling down to a really good film. Enjoy a relaxing few days before Christmas.

PS By the way Shrek is on BBC 1 on Thursday afternoon so it could be an afternoon on the sofa in front of the fire with a pot of Vanilla Mist and a few mince pies.